A/N: Just a quick AN. First thanks for the all the reviews, it would be great if we could keep those coming but that's up to you guys. Second just a heads up I'm sorry if the story seems kind of choppy at the end. Anyway enjoy!
Spyro and Cynder walked through the forest. The trees were green and full covering both the dragons in constant shade. The two moved along slowly Spyro staying close to Cynder who was walking at a slower pace. The poisonous injury on her neck, where the scales had fallen away had turned a sickly green color. The wound appeared to be causing her a lot of irritation but Spyro didn't know what he could do to quell the pain.
"Cynder." He said feebly to the dragoness.
At the sound of her name the black dragoness turned towards the purple dragon. "What is it Spyro?" The dragoness asked.
After a moment the purple dragon shook his head. "It's just that-
"Spyro it wasn't your fault." Cynder said cutting him off.
"But you-
"We fought Astir and we both knew that we could get injured. This time I just came out a little worse for wear. I'll be fine you'll see." Cynder smiled trying to calm the dragon but only managed a grimace as she agitated the wound again.
"Come on Cynder, let's keep going." Spyro said, fortifying his resolve by telling himself that he had to get the dragoness to safety. He nuzzled Cynder who had let her head droop slightly. The poison had obviously been taking its effect. Spyro gave the dragoness a reassuring smile before leading the way on through the trees.
The two dragons continued on their slow walk. Spyro knew that they were close to Warfang. Before they had stopped their flight, due to Cynder's condition, he had seen the great stone walls of Warfang. The dragon continued to navigate through the twisted trunks and fallen branches that littered the forest floor, always trying to pick the easiest path. As the two dragons walked slowly through the woods Spyro heard the sound of a branch cracking. It wasn't until then that the dragon noticed that the forest was extremely quiet. There were no noises to be heard.
"Hey did you hear that?" Spyro asked, turning back to his friends.
"Hear what? There isn't anything to hear." Sparx answered. At the words Cynder's head poked up and her eyes grew wide.
"You think someone's watching us." Cynder asked, her voice lowering to a whisper.
"I know someone's-
Spyro began to say before a large ape jumped from its hiding spot onto his back. The ape raised its savage blade high ready to strike down the purple dragon before he could react.
Cynder was quicker though seeing the ape make his jump. The dragoness let loose one of her elements. Black flames swirled around the ape causing him to screech in pain before Spyro flung the burning body from his back. As he looked up to thank the dragoness he saw another ape about to pounce on Cynder from behind. Before he could explain Spyro leapt forward and over Cynder catching the ape in midflight. Spyro quickly moved his jaws to the ape's neck and clamped his teeth down. Once he heard a sickening crunch he let up his grip and turned back to Cynder who had a bewildered look on her face.
"I guess we aren't alone." Spyro said, scanning the area around them where he could see the outlines of apes. As if in response yelps and growls echoed all around them. Spyro and Cynder put their backs to each other getting ready to fight.
"Didn't we kill all the apes?" Cynder asked.
"Apparently not, but I don't think this is the best time to discuss it." Spyro answered, as he saw an ape jump down from a nearby tree and charge him.
The thin golden scaled dragon shook his head in disbelief. "Have you completely lost it?" He asked electricity jumping around on his jagged horns.
"I was about to ask you the same thing." The large intimidating black dragon responded with a smirk.
"Don't you get it?" The yellow dragon roared. His anger channeled his element and the sky overhead grew cloudy and grey, with thunder and lightning erupting occasionally from the clouds. The black dragon only stood quietly in place ignoring the thunderstorm and the yellow dragon.
"You're working for Malefor! He tried to destroy the planet!" The dragon yelled while he displayed his sunburst colored wings hoping to intimidate the larger dragon.
The only response he got was a laugh. "Aegis, you don't get it." The black dragon stepped towards the lightning dragon threateningly. "How do you know that you aren't wrong? How do you know that I'm right, and that this is the right thing to do? Are you so sure that you know what's right for his world?" As the black dragon walked forward Aegis continued to step back.
"It's not too late. You could still join us. Aegis?" The black dragon's voice had taken on a calmer tone and almost sounded soothing to the lightning dragon.
"N-no, I know I'm right. What you are doing is wrong." Aegis said, steadying his green orbs on the dragon.
"It's a pity to see dragons wasted. I had hoped that you would come with me Aegis." The dragon paused to look at the sky. "You seem to show great promise." The black dragon said. Almost before the words left his mouth the black dragon charged forward.
Aegis barely had a chance to roll out of the way. As the dragon completed his roll he immediately launched himself vertically to avoid a cone of black flames. As Aegis reached the peak of his rise he had to duck out of the way of another fire blast. The dragon hit the ground rolling, as he got his paws under him lightning crackled between his teeth before forking out in multiple directions to strike the black dragon.
The dragon stood firm and took the blow, easily shaking off the shocking pain. As Aegis gasped the black dragon grinned evilly before charging forward again. Quickly regaining himself, Aegis gave a massive bloodcurdling roar. In the midst of the noise lightning shot down from the sky and struck Aegis. The black dragon wanted to believe that the phenomenon had hurt the dragon, but bared the thought from his mind knowing better.
The energy manifested itself around the lightning dragon giving him a luminescence. As the black dragon neared the pent up energy exploded from Aegis' body. The electric wave rolled out and away from him and destroying everything in its path. As the electric pulse subsided Aegis felt his legs go weak and he fell to the ground. After a moment he managed to look around and didn't see any other dragons around. Aegis sighed and closed his eyes.
"Not tired out are we?" He heard a voice ask. Aegis' eyes shot open and a growl emanated from his maw. The dragon tried to pull himself to his feet, the electric pulse had drained almost all his energy. Aegis looked to the dragon across from him in awe. The black dragon only had a few scraps across his razor sharp scales.
The black dragon smirked before picking up the dragon in his jaws and throwing him across the field into a lone tree. Aegis hardly registered the pain in his side. The black dragon walked over to the lightning dragon who was struggling to regain his footing. When the dragon reached him he swung his tail smashing Aegis to the ground once again. "Looks like you aren't as strong as I thought."
The yellow dragon turned his head slightly so that he could see the dragon again. "R-Reave." He stuttered and coughed slightly.
The black dragon smirked again, and bent down close to the dragon. "I'm sorry Aegis but you had your chance." After he finished his sentence he turned and left the lightning dragon to die.
Ashe and Azshea slowly glided down to one of the high walls of Warfang. The elder dragoness landed lightly on her feet as if she was an angelic presence. Azshea on the other hand touched down rather roughly and stumbled before regaining her balance, her wounds from the previous day were still fresh and inhibiting her. A sudden chuckle made her turn her head towards her mother who was laughing at her, and making no motion to cover the noise.
"What is it?" Azshea growled while narrowing her eyes.
Ashe stopped her laughter and her face suddenly became serious. "I just thought you would be a better flyer by now."
"I am, but if you'll remember you stabbed me, I kind of hurts to fly now." The dragoness retorted angrily.
The older dragoness snorted. "That's no excuse." The two dragons locked eyes giving each other death stares.
"Excuse me." A stern voice said. The two dragoness's broke their stare to look over towards the newcomer. "Civilians aren't allowed up here." A large blue dragon wearing shining armor, said calmly.
"Oh, sorry we-
Ashe cut her daughter off before she could finish. "Excuse me, but we aren't civilians." The dragoness said in a snide tone.
"Oh, and who are you?" The dragon asked already annoyed.
"I happen to be the emissary from Syrinal." The adult dragoness said, naming her home town.
The guard raised an eyebrow. "I should care why?" He asked.
Ashe growled showing her teeth. The guard was getting on her nerves. "Come on mom let's just go." Azshea said, breaking her thoughts.
Ashe glared at the smaller dragoness, causing her to shut her mouth and take a few steps back. "You should listen to your daughter." The guard continued smugly.
Ashe growled again and Azshea noticed her tail blade quivering. The metal blade twitched rapidly and clattered on the stone rampart. The noise drew the attention of the guard and he moved his head to stare down at it. Ashe smiled evilly and her tail blade shot through the air like a snake. The guard gasped seeing the deadly blade speeding towards him. As the guard reared his head back in surprise Azshea reacted quicker, having known her mother for a long time she almost saw this coming. The dragoness leapt on top of her mother's tail slowing it.
The unexpected burden caused Ashe to turn and see her daughter on her tail. The mother growled as the weak dragoness held on to her tail tightly. Azshea did manage to look up at her mother with pleading eyes. "Mom, don't do it."
Ashe hissed at the dragoness. "You cannot tell me what to do!" With a quick whip of her tail she sent the dragoness tumbling off. Ashe gave a snort and then lifted off from the wall flying towards the temple.
The guard stared at Azshea wide eyed. The dragoness slowly pulled herself to her feet. When she saw the dragon she smiled at him not knowing what to say.
"Why do you continue to follow her?" The guard asked, cocking his head to one side.
At first Azshea thought the question was quite rude but then gave it some thought. She had never really considered a thought like that. The dragoness shrugged after a moment. "She's my mother." Even as she said the words they sounded hollow even to her.
"That wouldn't be enough if I were treated like that." The guard said. Azshea only shook her head and flew away not having any words to argue with.
Spyro reared back his head and let a bolt of lightning shoot forth. The yellow energy flew between three of the apes causing them to convulse before falling over. The purple dragon looked behind him to see how Cynder was fairing against the mob of vicious apes. The dragoness spun around letting her powerful tail trail her. Cynder's tail snapped across and tripped up two apes, her tail blade slicing the first. As she completed her spin she breathed a stream of shadow fire at the two apes, ensuring their demise.
"Where are they all coming from?" Spyro asked while ducking the swing of one particularly sharp axe.
"My guess is Astir had something to do with it." Cynder said vaulting over Spyro to mangle the ape with her claws.
"Spyro on your left!" Sparx shouted desperately.
Spyro swung around and without even considering his action breathed a white hot stream of fire, charring the ape that was approaching him.
"Alright this is getting ridiculous." Cynder said, as she sliced through an ape with her tail blade. The dragoness stood still and took in a deep breath. Almost a split second later her turquoise eyes glowed crimson and she opened her maw to release a physic scream that penetrated the heart of every ape in the vicinity. Spyro and Sparx even felt chills run down their spines as the sound resonated around them. Within seconds the apes were running from them scrambling over each other to get away.
After the sound had resided Sparx turned to Spyro and let out a whistle. "Don't get on her bad side Spyro; you wouldn't want to face one of those."
Spyro rolled his eyes at the dragonfly before turning to look at Cynder. "Cynder that was…" The dragon trailed off as he saw the dragoness lying on her side. "Cynder!" Spyro yelled running over to her. When he neared her he saw that she was still breathing.
"Cynder?" He asked again, quietly this time.
"I-I'm okay." The dragoness said after a long pause. The dragoness took a deep breath trying to regain her strength. "I just haven't done that in a while." She said putting on a half smile.
Spyro smiled back and helped the dragoness to her feet. He grimaced when he saw the infected patch of skin on the dragoness' neck. Cynder noticed his look and tilted her head asking the obvious question.
"It's not that bad." Spyro lied trying to comfort his friend.
"I don't need to be pampered." Cynder said catching on to the dragon's facial features.
Spyro shrugged and shook his head. "You know me too well Cynder. Well, you're right it looks like its getting worse."
"All the more reason to get going." Sparx said interrupting the two by flying near to their faces.
The dragons didn't argue and the three moved off once again. It didn't take them long to reach the walls of Warfang. The two dragons looked up along the high wall of Warfang.
"Think you can get over it?" Spyro asked looking over to the dragoness.
Cynder's whole figure looked worn out. Her eyes even appeared to be dulling slightly and the shimmer had nearly left her scales. Despite all the signs Cynder looked over to Spyro and said, "Yeah, I think I'll be able to pull it off." The dragoness said in a weak voice.
Spyro smiled and gave the dragoness a quick peck on the lips. "For luck." He said smiling sheepishly. Cynder smiled back at him. She couldn't help but feel comforted by the dragon's actions. After the brief contact broke Cynder quickly shot herself skyward, using her power over the wind to propel her higher.
Spyro and Sparx felt the heavy breeze spin around them as the dragoness left. Spyro was about to follow suit when Sparx stopped him. "You love her don't you?" The dragonfly asked bluntly. Spyro watched the dragoness ascend higher before answering.
"More than you know Sparx." He responded simply before lifting off with his powerful wings.
Sparx shook his head. "Yeah, should have seen that coming a mile away." He said to himself before following his brother.
The three made it to the top of the wall Cynder landing first followed by Spyro and then Sparx. The two dragons scanned Warfang in the late afternoon light. "Any idea where the clinic is?" Spyro asked the two.
Before Cynder could respond they heard a clanking noise and saw a large blue dragon in metal armor approach them. "Twice in one day." He grumbled hardly looking up. "Hey civilians aren't allowed…" The dragon trailed off as he saw who was standing before him. "Up here." He finished slowly.
"Hi, we're looking for the clinic, you wouldn't happen to know where it is would you?" Spyro asked the now hesitant dragon.
"Uh, uh yeah it's over there, the tall building with the pointed roof." The ice dragon stuttered pointing a claw towards one of the city buildings.
"Thanks." Cynder said poking her head out so that the guard could see who was talking. In response he gasped again he had been so focused on Spyro he hadn't noticed Cynder.
As the guard continued to stare blankly at the two dragons Spyro spoke up. "Right well thanks we'll go now." As the dragons hopped over the wall and glided towards the clinic the guard just shook his head.
Spyro and Cynder landed right by the clinic. Spyro touched down lightly and as he looked back he saw Cynder stumbling as she landed. The dragon quickly reached out a paw to steady her. The dragoness smiled gratefully and let Spyro help her along into the clinic. Inside the medical building Srali sat tending to a small dragon who appeared to have hurt his paw. Te little earth dragon looked watched the older dragoness wrap his paw in a bandage.
"Alright now remember next time you practice your element don't drop the rock on your paw." The dragoness smiled. The small earth dragon turned his paw tentatively. When he found it didn't hurt a huge grin spread across his face.
"Thanks Srali!" The dragon exclaimed happily hopping off the chair. "I'll be more careful next time I-
The dragon stopped talking as he backed into Spyro's leg. The earth dragon spun around and looked up in awe at the two dragons. Srali's attention was also caught by the two, but she said nothing.
"You're the dragons who stopped Malefor." The little dragon said in a whisper. Spyro and Cynder couldn't help but smile at the comment.
Before the dragon could start asking questions Srali cut him off. "Baelor why don't you run along and find your friends, I think these two could use some help." The dragon nodded silently. He moved slowly out of the room not taking his eyes off the two for a second causing him to almost run into the doorframe.
After the dragon had left Srali turned her attention back to the two. "What happened this time? Another evil dragon out to get you?" She asked while motioning for Cynder to come over.
"Same dragon as before." Sparx pointed out.
"I swear you two are magnets for trouble." The dragoness said while inspecting the poisoned part of skin on Cynder's neck.
After a few moments of silence Spyro decided to open his mouth. "Is Cynder going to be okay Srali?" He asked in a nervous voice. In response Srali moved her eyes away from the sickly wound to look at Spyro. Her eyes flicked between the two dragons quickly.
"What is it?" Cynder asked.
"Nothing." Srali said after a moment. "She's going to be fine. Cynder your body seems to have a natural ability to fight off poison, if you didn't have this you would be dead by now. While the infection is only on the surface it could still kill you. Luckily, Spyro got you here fast enough." The dragoness paused for a second before adding. "He must really be fond of you."
The two dragons opened their eyes wide at the comment. They made brief eye contact before turning away each of them blushing slightly.
Srali chuckled to herself and Sparx joined in while the two dragons stood nervously in the room. "Anyway, we have something for your infection right here." Srali said pulling out a small container of gel. "Since the poison hasn't had time to really grow yet this should be a onetime thing." As the dragoness spread the gel across the sore spot she continued. "If the infection doesn't go away come back and we can try something else."
"Alright, thanks Srali." Cynder said her mind still focused on the previous comment.
The dragons said their goodbyes and walked from the room. The two dragons quietly made their way from the clinic back to the guardian's house. When the two walked in they found the three guardians all sitting around the room reading.
"Do you guys do anything anymore?" Sparx asked as they entered the house.
"Sparx!" Spyro scolded quickly.
To his surprise the three guardians laughed. "It's our day off." Terrodar said unperturbed by the dragonfly's comment.
"After so many years of duty we could use it too." Cyril added.
"Enough about us though, Spyro, Cynder, what happened to you?" The elder dragons asked.
"Let's see." Sparx started counting on his fingers. "We got attacked by Astir, the dark dragon. Cynder got poisoned. Apes attacked us. Things got really complicated. Then we came back here." The dragonfly smiled feeling that he had explained the situation perfectly.
The elders didn't know what to say so they instead turned to Spyro. "That about sums it up." The dragon sighed, answering the unasked question.
"Spyro I think they want to hear it in detail." Cynder said with a smirk.
"Right well, we left Warfang during the guardian inauguration…"
"This Astir seems to be stirring up trouble." Volteer said, once Spyro finished his story.
"More than trouble, I think he wants to be the next Malefor." Spyro responded.
"Then we will have to deal with him, but we can't forget about the apes either." Terrodar said. "Is it possible that they are working for him?"
"I don't see why not. They served Malefor once before, why not do it again?" Cynder answered. All the dragons stopped then to think about what might befall them. The sudden danger brought fear to their hearts. With so much to do they couldn't even begin to think about where to start. Spyro crossed the thought from his mind and looked to Cynder. He noticed the dragoness wobbling on her feet. "Cynder are you feeling alright?" He asked concern crossing his face.
The dragoness nodded. "This is just a lot to think about, and I'm not feeling that great after what happened today."
"You should both go and rest you have had a few long days." Terrodar said. The two dragons didn't argue and headed up to their room for some well earned rest.
The next day Cynder woke up in the late morning. She nudged Spyro who had fallen asleep next to him, and woke him up. "You're looking better." Spyro said through sleepy eyes.
In truth the dragoness did look better than she had yesterday. The dullness had left her scales and her body looked as fit as it had a few days ago. Even the infection on her neck was nearly gone. "I feel better too." She added stretching her body to get rid of the sleepiness. Spyro watched the dragoness with a smile on his face. He hardly paid any attention to his drifting eyes that scanned her body. "What are you smiling at Spyro?" The dragoness asked, breaking his thoughts and causing his eyes to snap to hers.
"Uh, nothing, I'm just happy to see that you're better." Spyro answered tentatively.
Cynder rolled her eyes. "Okay, do you really expect me to believe that?" The dragoness asked smiling back at Spyro.
"Uh, yeah why wouldn't you believe it?" Spyro asked, back growing more nervous by the second.
Cynder pounced on the purple dragon playfully and quickly pinned the unsuspecting dragon. "What were you doing?" She asked her voice still light and airy putting her weight down to keep the dragon from moving.
"I told you." Spyro said, trying to laugh off his uneasiness.
"You lied and you know it Spyro. Come on you can tell me." Cynder said.
The purple dragon knew he was going to have to fess up. There was no way around it. "Alright Cynder you win." Cynder leaned in waiting for her answer.
"Cynder, you aren't trying to kill Spyro are you?" Sparx asked from across the room. The dragonfly still had his eyes closed but had heard what they said and could deduce what was going on. The comment from the dragonfly caught the dragoness off guard and Spyro took his chance. The dragon quickly turned them around so that he had Cynder pinned now.
"Sparx you have great timing, has anyone ever told you that?" Cynder asked feigning annoyance.
"A lot of people actually, but more importantly shouldn't you two stop wrestling and figure out what to do about the dark dragons and all that." Sparx answered.
Spyro smiled and stepped off of Cynder allowing her to stand up next to him. "Since when are you the serious one Sparx?"
"Well when you two are distracted by each other, someone has to be serious." The dragonfly said in response.
"Shouldn't we just tell the guardians that we found Astir again?" Cynder asked simply.
"Sounds good to me. Even if they don't believe us I think we should tell them. Maybe Tera can convince the others." Spyro said hopefully.
With the plan set the three went back to the first floor of the home to eat their breakfast. They ate quickly each of them were eager to get on their way and try to fix some of the problems that had arisen before them. They left so fast that the guardians didn't even get a chance to ask them where they were going.
The two dragons flew towards the temple landing on the large set of marble steps. The dragons quickly made their way up the steps and towards the entrance. As they walked forward two large guards that stood outside the entrance suddenly dropped to ready positions.
"We have to see the guardians." Spyro said.
One of the guards looked down to him and said. "I am sorry, but no one is allowed inside. The guardians are in meetings with ambassadors from other cities and have asked that no one disturbs them."
"So when can we see them?" Cynder asked.
"The meetings will end in about a week but it may take longer than that. I'm sorry but we cannot let even the purple dragon inside." The other guard told her.
"But we have to see-
"Spyro." Cynder drew the dragon's attention with the word. "We don't want to make trouble. It wouldn't bode well, and we already aren't in the best standing with the guardians." Cynder reasoned.
Spyro looked at her with curious eyes. It seemed to him like Cynder was giving up to easily. Although he desperately wanted to get inside some innate feeling told him to go along with her. The dragon nodded. "Alright for now we'll wait."
"Come on lets head out to think about this. I know a nice place just outside the city walls. I saw it when we were heading in yesterday." Cynder said, trying to comfort the dragon a little.
"Alright let's go then." Spyro said in a resigned voice.
The two dragons quickly lifted off and flew towards the city wall. They made it there in less than a minute and quickly passed over the wall. Spyro followed as Cynder flew only several yards towards the forest before dropping down among the trees. Spyro followed her through the brush. He landed by Cynder in a small open grove. There was a small lake nearby that shimmered in the early afternoon sun. Large trees surrounded them forming a light canopy over their heads giving them partial shade.
"Wow Cynder this place is great!" Spyro exclaimed turning around to take in all sides of the view.
"I thought you would like it, and here we can talk about how we are going to get past those guards." Cynder said a mischievous smile spreading across her face.
Spyro grinned. "I knew you wouldn't give up that easily! So what do you think we should do?"
"I'm not sure but…" The dragoness trailed off as she began to hear something.
"What is it?" Spyro asked. When Cynder didn't answer he began to ask again but was cut off as a giant black dragon rammed into him.
"Spyro!" Cynder yelled as she saw the black dragon smash into her friend and saw the two tumble across the grass.